A concentration camp officer's hat is among the grim selection of lots in Alexander Historical Auctions' February 10 sale in Maryland.
It's expected to make $8,000-12,000.
![]() The cap is in original condition |
Alexander Auctions comments: that the "'waffenfarbe' color coding scheme light brown was used by the SS to denote concentration camp duty which fell almost exclusively to the SS-Totenkopfverbande or Death's Head Units."
It is unknown which camp the hat originates from. It is in original condition, with the exception of the insignia - which are reproductions.
It's a shocking reminder of the horrors of the camps, especially this week on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
A pair of eyeglasses belonging to Heinrich Himmler are valued at $6,000-8,000.
Himmler's daughter Gudrun - a prominent Nazi sympathiser - was the former owner of the glasses and has attached a label reading "'Papa's [illeg. 'old'?] glasses'".
Himmler was the architect of the Holocaust, responsible for the implementation of the death camps and the foundation and development of the SS.
On the other side of the coin, a set of enamelware from Oscar Schindler's factory in Krakow, Poland is valued at $1,500-2,000.
Schindler famously saved the lives of around 1,200 Jews by employing them as forced labourers. While in the beginning he was motivated by profit, he eventually spent all of his own money and resources on bribes to protect his workers.
He died bankrupt in 1974, having spent the post-war years relying on help from those he had saved. He was buried in Jerusalem.
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